harry reid, before his closed door luncheon, said he was still cautiously optimistic. hard to see from our perspective why he would say this because things seem pretty bleak at this point, though you never know what's going on behind closed doors. melissa. >> thank you very much. keeping an eye on that podium because senator harry reid is apparently going to come out and speak in a few minutes so we'll watch for that. let's go to the white house correspondent kristen welker. we know the senate majority leader has talked to the president. has there been any reaction from the white house today. >> reporter: the white house is not commenting on these negotiations that are going on over on the hill. they do not want to derail them by speaking out, by agitating the situation, but i tell you that there is a lot of investment here going on behind the scenes. in addition to mitch mcconnell speaking to vice president biden, the president sent his top negotiator, one of his top negotiators, rob nabors over to the hill. he's meeting with senate democrats as well this afternoon. a